


the best gift of all

by gaymiens



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Christmas fic, Dangan Ronpa 2017 Secret Santa, Fluff, Kiyotaka-centric, M/M, Secret Santa, whoops i'm late, with mondo and kirigiri having big roles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13440369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymiens/pseuds/gaymiens
Summary: Kiyotaka Ishimaru finds himself organising a class wide 'Secret Santa' gift exchange, at his kyoudai's request. He's stuck trying to find a good gift for his giftee, but a little help from an unexpected ally helps Kiyotaka make the most of the situation.And this year, he might just be receiving the best gift of all.------Written for the 2017 Dangan Ronpa Secret Santa, which I am SO horrendously late for! Please forgive me, I've been dealing with awful writer's block on top of a very busy schedule. I really hope you like this!





	the best gift of all

“Hey, kyoudai,” Mondo spoke up, leaning back on Kiyotaka’s bed and leafing through a magazine, “What’s the date?”

 

Kiyotaka looked up from his book in surprise, turning to give Mondo a confused look. Nobody cared about the date anymore- nobody but Kiyotaka anyway, not with the non-existent day/night cycle of the school. Once you were shut off from society, time didn’t quite matter in the same way it used to. Everyone had lost count of the days passed inside their prison, preferring instead to spend their time mindlessly occupying themselves with other activities. Only Kiyotaka had bothered to keep a calendar, dutifully marking off the days every time he woke up.

 

Mondo, especially, had never cared about the date at all. He’d repeatedly told Kiyotaka that it was ‘kinda fuckin’ sad’ for him to keep track of the days- it was just a reminder of how long they’d been stuck in here. How long the Tragedy had been going on. When even the headmaster stopped keeping track, Mondo had decided that it was unhealthy for Kiyotaka to keep at it. Which was why it was so shocking to hear Mondo asking about it. 

 

“Uh…” Kiyotaka fumbled, shooting a quick glance to his calendar, “It’s December 20th!” He smiled to himself, glad that Mondo finally seemed to understand that it was  _ important  _ to keep track of time if they were going to re-establish societ-

 

“So it’s only five days ‘til Christmas?!” Mondo yelled, throwing down his magazine and sitting up on the bed. His eyes were sparkling like a child, and he had the  _ cutest  _ largest grin Kiyotaka had ever seen on his face.

 

“Well… yes! Why, is that important?”

 

Mondo’s eyebrows lowered, giving Kiyotaka a  _ look.  _ “Of course it’s fuckin’ important, it’s  _ Christmas!  _ What, your old man never celebrate it with ya?” Kiyotaka shook his head, and Mondo sighed. “...Yeah, I prolly shoulda guessed that.” This was another testy subject- Mondo always got irrationally angry whenever Kiyotaka brought up his father, or his childhood in general. Sometimes, he even started crying, although he would never admit it. Kiyotaka knew his childhood was… suboptimal, at best, but it was nothing to get  _ that  _ upset over! Really, Mondo’s heart was too big for his own good… he worried about Kiyotaka far too much! 

 

“It’s… a Western holiday, mostly, isn’t it? I was under the assumption that it was just an evening to eat fried chicken… um…” Kiyotaka muttered, “And of course, we couldn’t afford that, and father didn’t want to spend money on fast food when we had perfectly good rice at home!”

 

“Shit, really? Daiya told me that it was, like, a holiday where ya gave people presents and shit. The gang always had a sort of Christmas exchange goin’... nothin’ fancy y’know, but like… us tradin’ clothes and bike parts around. Daiya always used ta get me more expensive shit, even when he couldn’t afford it…” Mondo rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly.

 

“Well, that sounds- that really sounds nice! And if you want… I  _ suppose  _ we could have a similar sort of ‘exchange’ here!” Kiyotaka stood from his desk, walking over to the bed so he could sit next to Mondo, “I mean, it would take some explaining to the rest of the class, but I’m not class representative for nothing! I  _ would  _ need to talk it over with Kirigiri-sensei, though, and I’m not  _ entirely  _ sure about the  _ rules  _ of this exchange, but-”

 

Kiyotaka was silenced by Mondo pulling him into a quick hug.

 

“Thanks, Taka. This uh… this really means a lot ta me. But ya don’t have to work all this shit out on your own! I’ve organized shit like this before, it’s not that big of a deal…” 

 

Kiyotaka pulled away far enough to shoot Mondo a determined look and a bright smile. “Nonsense! It’s the holiday  _ you’ve  _ been looking forward to, you shouldn’t have to bother yourself with the details of setting it up! And I’m sure it can’t be  _ that  _ hard to organise an exchange.”

 

“You don’t even know what the exchange  _ is _ , kyoudai.” Mondo chuckled, ruffling Kiyotaka’s hair with one hand.

 

“Well, what is it?” 

 

Mondo leant back again, pulling Kiyotaka down with him. For some reason, Kiyotaka’s pulse started rising to unnaturally high levels. Strange.

 

“Basically, like… everyone gets given someone’s name, and they have ta find a present for that person. And then they get a present from whoever picked  _ their  _ name. Daiya called it ‘Secret Santa’.”

 

“Well, that sounds easy enough to organise! I’d just have to write out everyone’s names and have them pull it from a bowl- what happens if somebody gets their  _ own  _ name?”

 

“Uh… ‘coz the gang was so big, we just had ‘em treat themselves ta something nice. We couldn’t do redraws. But I guess if someone gets their name in this, they can just… put it back and pick another one?”

 

“That sounds suitable!” Kiyotaka sat up again, and Mondo frowned at him, making grabby hands. Kiyotaka looked down at him with a fond smile, but stood up anyway. “Mondo, I don’t have time to cu-”

 

“It’s not cuddlin’, that’s too girly. We’re chillin’, like real men,” Mondo interrupted.

 

“Right. I don’t have time to ‘chill’ with you. I need to get this set up! If we want to have enough time to pick out proper gifts from the storeroom, or even make them ourselves, we need to get the selection done as soon as possible! But first I need to run the idea past Kirigiri-sensei… and write up the slips!”

 

Mondo groaned, letting Kiyotaka stand up from the bed and walk towards his desk. He cleared the books out of the way, opening the drawers to find his good paper, and placed it on the desk. 

 

“Y’know, kyoudai- I can prolly deal with lettin’ everyone know ‘bout the thing. I can prolly explain it better anyway. And uh… if ya still wanna do somethin’, writing the slips is good. I still don’t know the kanji for Togami’s name…” 

 

“Mondo! We’ve been classmates for-”

 

“I know! I just don’t bother ta learn that stuff, y’know. And if I did, I’d forget it.” Mondo shuffled off the bed, pulling off his loafers. “‘Sides, you’re already set up to write ‘em out. It’ll be quicker this way.” 

 

“I… suppose. But the next time you come over, I’m teaching you how to write his name! We’re going to be trapped here for god knows how long, it’s the least we can do to get to know each other! One’s name is very important, you know!” Mondo sighed, before giving Kiyotaka a lazy smile and patting him on the shoulder.

 

“I know. And I guess I gotta learn it if you’re so fired up about it.”

 

“Good!” Kiyotaka watched Mondo walk out the door, slamming it rather loudly behind him. That would have to be another thing Kiyotaka discussed with him- if the door broke, it would be a huge hassle to repair it!

 

...Now, he had to get onto making the slips. He grabbed a ballpoint pen and a ruler, neatly splitting each page up into eight seconds. Should he include Kirigiri-sensei in this? Probably not, especially since it seemed to be a  _ class  _ activity instead of a  _ staff  _ activity… but maybe Kirigiri-sensei needed a little bit of “holiday cheer” too. He’d been trapped in a school with sixteen students and nobody else, after all… But that would make 17 participants, and he’d have to waste an entirely new piece of paper just to add Kirigiri-sensei’s name in there.

 

He settled on just making 16 slips for now, and decided to ask Kirigiri-sensei personally if he wanted to be included. From there, it was easy to write out the names, and cut out the slips. He was sure he could get a bowl or something to put the names in from the cafeteria or the storeroom, but for now, he could just store them in his desk. 

 

And despite himself… he couldn’t stop from feeling just the tiniest bit excited. 

 

* * *

 

“Alright everyone!” Kiyotaka announced, holding out the bowl he’d crammed the neat paper slips into, “It’s time for everyone to draw the names of your ‘Secret Santa’! Once again, I’d like to thank Mondo-kun for the idea, and you should all give him your thanks as well!”

 

“Um… t-thank you, Mondo-kun!” Fujisaki said, followed by a few other mumbles of thanks. 

 

“Can we draw now?” Kuwata asked, bouncing on the heels of his foot, “‘Coz like, it’s only five days ‘til the thing and I don’t want my ‘Secret Santa’ to rush shit.” 

 

“Language!” Kiyotaka reprimanded, heading off the stage of gymnasium and walking down to the crowd gathered at the bottom, “But… er, I suppose there’s no time to waste! Everybody, please form an orderly line to pick out your giftee! And remember, if you draw your own name, please place it back in and draw again!” Kiyotaka reached into the bowl to draw  _ his  _ name, taking a quick glance to make sure  _ he  _ hadn’t picked his own.

 

_ Your giftee is Sakura Oogami. _

 

Well, that was convenient! Oogami was a woman of simple tastes, and Kiyotaka was sure he could find  _ something  _ in the store room that she’d appreciate. Perhaps he could even brew her a cup of his favourite green tea as an extra favour! He’d heard her discussing to Asahina about how much she missed the tea ceremonies back at her dojo. 

 

Kiyotaka stuffed the slip into his pocket, holding out the bowl again. Kuwata, who was surprisingly the first in the line, stuffed his hand into the bowl and pulled out a name, staring intently at the slip in his hand. He groaned, before crumpling it into a ball and chucking it over his shoulder. Kiyotaka scowled at him.

 

“You should pick that up, Kuwata-kun! I trust everyone here not to peek at someone else’s giftee slip, but that doesn’t mean you should just leave it lying around! Not to mention, it’s littering!”

 

“Jeez, fine, save the fuckin’ lecture,” Kuwata grumbled under his breath, bending down to pick up the slip, shooting Kiyotaka a foul look as he shuffled away. Kiyotaka wondered what had  _ him  _ so agitated. 

 

The rest of the proceedings went on without much difficulty, besides the part halfway through where Naegi got stuck picking his own name five times in a row. Honestly, sometimes Kiyotaka wondered why Naegi had even gotten into Hope’s Peak in the  _ first place!  _ Although, considering the situation they were in, it wasn’t  _ that  _ much of a surprise… nevertheless, it was luckier to be trapped in a high school for years than it was to be out there during the Tragedy! So he must have  _ some  _ luck, if not  _ much _ …

 

But that wasn't important right now. What  _ was  _ important was that everyone had picked their giftee, and now it was Kiyotaka’s duty to find a suitable gift for Oogami! He quickly marched over to the cafeteria, safely depositing the bowl back where it should be, and stopped to think for a moment.

 

What did Oogami like… well, that was easy. She liked training, of course! And… protein! And… um. Talking to Asahina? Admittedly, Kiyotaka had grown so focused on his friendship with  _ Mondo  _ he’d never really… spent that much time with the  _ rest  _ of his classmates. But he was sure that didn’t matter right now! They were busy too, with their  _ own  _ friendships, and probably appreciated hanging out with  _ them  _ more than they would hanging out with Kiyotaka! It only mattered now because he was just the tiniest bit stuck on what he should give Oogami…

 

He knew she liked protein. That was simple. But somehow, getting a bottle of protein powder from the storeroom seemed like a cop-out. It was the lowest hanging fruit on the tree! If Oogami received a present like that, she’d think that Kiyotaka hadn’t put  _ any  _ effort into picking it out for her! 

 

Hmm… this truly was a conundrum. Perhaps he should see if there’s any work-out items in the storeroom that she hadn’t found already… but that would take forever! And he wasn’t even sure if they would be right for her- she was a highly trained athlete, a few cheap weights would be insulting to give her! If only there was someway he could learn more about her in such a short time without seeming suspicious…

 

A-hah! That was it! Instead of worrying about potentially getting her something he hated, he would just ask someone  _ else _ what gifts she would like! Someone who was closer to Oogami, who would know a little more about her than Kiyotaka did. Somebody like… like Asahina! 

 

But wait… Kiyotaka knew that Asahina tended to get a little bit… over-excited. He wasn’t sure how well she could keep a secret if Kiyotaka told her that he was looking or a gift for Oogami. Knowing her, she’d probably accidentally let it slip to Oogami that Kiyotaka was giving her a gift, and then his entire plan would be ruined! No, Kiyotaka needed somebody else to consult…

 

“Having trouble picking a gift?”

 

Kiyotaka jumped at the sudden voice, whirling around to face a (vaguely amused) Kirigiri. He breathed a small sigh of relief, before nodding his head in defeat. It was no use lying to the Super High School Level Detective, afterall. She’d probably already deduced not only the source of his stress, but maybe even who his giftee was! 

 

...Hang on. Maybe he could use this.

 

“Er… yes, actually,” he admitted, bowing his head and looking pointedly at his shoes, “At first I thought it would be  _ easy  _ to pick out a gift, but now I’m not so sure…”

 

“I’m guessing you want me to help you out?” Ack! How was she so ahead of him! Was he  _ really  _ that predictable?! “Because I’d be happy to lend you my services… if you give me a favour in return.”

 

Yes! This was  _ perfect!  _ Kiyotaka snapped his gaze back up to meet Kirigiri’s, the hint of a smile tugging at the end of his lips, which were currently firmly pressed together in his usual frown. He looked around the cafeteria, making sure that nobody else was listening, before deciding to answer.

 

“That would be wonderful, Kirigiri-kun! I’d be happy to do any favour you’d ask for, so long as you’d tell me…” He lowered the tone of his voice, still wary of any potential eavesdroppers. “I was wondering if you’d tell me what Oogami-kun would like for a gift. I realise that I should be doing the work for  _ myself _ \- and I absolutely would if the time limit wasn’t so tight! But I haven’t really… gotten that close to Oogami-kun, and I’m not quite sure what she would like.”

 

Kirigiri waiting patiently for him to finish his explanation, before giving him a small smile. Almost immediately, she turned away, and began walking towards the exit of the cafeteria. Huh? Was she going to leave, just like that?! Oh no, what if she told Oogami-kun! 

 

“W-wait, where are you going?!” Kiyotaka cried, wincing at the volume of his voice. He hadn’t intended for that to be so  _ loud.  _ Kirigiri hesitated, looking over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow.

 

“Aren’t you going to follow me? Obviously it’s not safe for us to have a discussion like this out in the open. I was moving to a more… private location.” Kiyotaka felt like smacking himself in the forehead. Of  _ course  _ Kirigiri wasn’t going to betray him like that! She wasn’t the type of woman to do such a thing- he presumed. Actually, Kirigiri was another one of his classmates he really needed to start spending more time with… maybe after this whole ordeal was over, he could sit down and have a proper discussion with her! About what, he didn’t quite know yet, but he was sure he’d find something to talk about in the time between then and now.

 

“Of course, I just… you didn’t tell me where you were going!” Kiyotaka offered, briskly walking up to meet Kirigiri again. Once he was significantly close to her, she headed off again, apparently towards the dormitories. Oh no… would Kiyotaka have to go into her  _ room _ ? The idea of spending time alone in a room with a  _ female  _ student made him slightly… uncomfortable. He knew nothing would happen, which he was  _ very glad for _ , but if someone saw him, they could draw incorrect conclusions. Kiyotaka wasn’t as obsessed with fending off scandals now that he only had sixteen people left to interact with, but it would still be mortifying if someone assumed he was dating Kirigiri and decided to mock him for it! Especially if her  _ father  _ somehow found out…

 

Thankfully, the hallway was empty, and Kiyotaka managed to make it into Kirigiri’s dorm without much fuss. The inside of the dorm seemed almost clinically empty- only a stack of books from the library, piled up on the desk near the bed, indicated anyone was living here at all. Kiyotaka shivered slightly, the atmosphere of the room only amplifying his anxieties. 

 

“...She likes flowers,” Kirigiri suddenly said, “And calligraphy. I’ve noticed she spends quite a long amount of time in the dojo, just meditating with the flowers. She also likes to take Asahina to the gardens. As for calligraphy, I overheard a conversation between her and Naegi. She thinks that the calligraphy scrolls in the classroom are quite nice, and wishes she could have one of her own. And, this is just conjecture, but I believe she’d appreciate having someone appeal to the softer side of her, instead of buying training equipment.”

 

“Ah…” was all Kiyotaka could say, as he tried to process the large amount of information suddenly flung at him, “I… I see. I suppose I could try making some scrolls for her, with… flower decorations?”

 

“That would be a wise choice, yes.”

 

Kiyotaka fidgeted with the end of his sleeve, darting a glance over his shoulder and at the door. Well, that was easy enough. All he needed to do was thank Kirigiri and leave, and then he could get busy working on his present for Oogami-

 

“You haven’t forgotten about your end of the deal, have you?” Kirigiri asked, but with a tone of voice that betrayed she already knew the answer. Kiyotaka nearly gave himself whiplash snapping his head to face her again. His face started to grow hot, his uncharacteristic air-headedness today causing a pool of deep shame to settle low in his gut. He needed to pull himself together!

 

“I- sorry! What do you want me to do- I mean, you’ve helped me so much already, I’d be happy to do anything!” Kiyotaka fumbled over his words, and he swore he head Kirigiri… laugh?

 

“It’s nothing that important. I was just wondering if you could give me some advice in turn.” Kirigiri reached into her pocket, pulling out a slip that read:  _ Your giftee is Mondo Oowada.  _ “The two of you spend so much time together, and I haven’t had much time to observe him. Especially outside of your dynamic with him. This is… sort of mortifying, but I don’t know what to get him.” This time,  _ Kirigiri  _ was the one that looked flustered.

 

Kiyotaka blinked once, confused, before bursting into a wide smile.

 

“Of course! Well, to start, Mondo is a  _ huge  _ fan of dogs. More specifically, malteses and other small breeds! It’s because when he was a kid, he had a dog like that… oh, and he also likes cats, although he doesn’t think they’re as cute as dogs. But I suppose you can’t really find any  _ dogs  _ around here, so I guess I’ll have to tell you his  _ other  _ interests. This might get a bit long…”

 

It was three hours before Kiyotaka could return to his room, proud, and leaving a very overwhelmed Kirigiri in his wake.

 

* * *

 

Today was the day. 

 

The last half a week had been spent working tirelessly. After he’d collected the supplies from the storeroom, Kiyotaka had burned through fifteen different scrolls of paper before he managed to make one he was happy with. He wasn’t an artist, but he  _ was  _ quite proud of his calligraphy, and the scroll he managed to come up with looked quite beautiful, if he could say so himself.

 

The kanji for “determination” had been lovingly hand-written across the scroll, with little sakura flowers decorating the edges. It’d been quite hard to find good ink in that colour, and Kiyotaka had had to employ the help of Yamada to do so (he had quite an impressive collection of ink, being a doujinshi artist), but the final product was perfect. Kiyotaka only hoped Oogami liked it as much as he did!

 

Kiyotaka clutched the scroll to his chest, looking around the room in satisfaction as his classmates slowly pooled in. One thing he didn’t quite like about this whole gift exchange was the fact that Mondo seemed to be  _ ignoring  _ him for a good while. Every time Kiyotaka tried to talk to him, Mondo would always say that he was “too busy”. Kiyotaka wondered who he must have gotten, if he was spending so much time on the gift- maybe someone picky, like Celestia? Kiyotaka hoped he didn’t get rebuffed too bad by her and her ridiculous standards, if that was the case.

 

Speaking of Mondo, it was getting quite far into the party and he still hadn’t arrived… the classmates that were already here were starting to grow restless. Kuwata especially- he looked about ready to blow up in anticipation, and he was starting to pester the people around him into giving him his gift early.

 

Kiyotaka frowned, looking at the clock, before striding towards the teacher’s desk. They’d decided to hold this party in a classroom instead of the gymnasium, because, in Naegi’s words, it felt more close-knit and homely to have a party in a smaller room. Kiyotaka just found it suffocating, especially as the minutes ticked by without Mondo arriving. Had he overslept? Did he forget about the party?

 

No, that couldn’t be! He was the one who had organised it in the first place! Perhaps he was still working out his gift…? Yes, that had to be it. 

 

But the fact was, he was still horrendously late, and everyone was starting to get  _ impatient.  _ Kiyotaka sighed, before clearing his throat. Mondo or no Mondo, they had to start this party  _ now.  _ Hopefully, if everything went well, he could sneak outside after handing Oogami her gift, and go and get Mondo from his dorm…

 

“Everybody!” Kiyotaka announced, slamming a hand onto the teacher’s desk (but not hard enough to seriously damage it), “We will now begin the gift exchange! Go and find your giftee, and hand them your gift!” Kuwata cheered, immediately looking around the class in expectation. A second later, and everything erupted into chaos.

 

_ “Hey, Kirigiri-san! I got you, uh… I wrote you a detective story! I hope you like it!” _

 

_ “...Thank you, Naegi-kun. That’s very thoughtful of you.” _

 

_ “Oh wow, Sakura-chan! You shouldn’t have!” _

_   
_ _ “Nonsense, Asahina. I wanted to get something nice for you.” _

_ “But still, cooking little dolphin shaped donuts is pretty hard work! And they’re so cute… I almost don’t wanna eat them!” _

 

_ “Ah, if you would like me to remake them so they’re less ‘cute’, I can-” _

 

_ “I said almost. Sakura-chan. Almost. And mmph- thesh are sho good!” _

 

_ “...What is this?” _

 

_ “It’s an OOPArt! I spent a buncha bucks on it, and it’s got vampire energies. Like, it’s from Pennsylvania! That’s where all the vampires live, right Celes-chi?” _

 

_ “...You’re thinking of Transylvania. Ugh, I shouldn’t have agreed to this awful exchange if I knew you were going to give me a FUCKING ROCK!”  _

 

_ “AEEEEE! IT’S POSSESSED YOU!” _

 

_ “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, gimmie a good gift!” _

 

_ “Ah, Leon Kuwata-dono! There you are! I prepared a very special gift for you, ufufufu. It’s a doujinshi chronicling you in the role of the great Star Warrior, protector of the galaxy-” _

 

_ “So you just got me nerd crap. Dammit, why couldn’t my secret santa be someone cool! Like Maizono!” _

 

Kiyotaka didn’t really know what to do. There was just so  _ much _ going on- everyone’s reactions to their gifts were so full-on, whether they be reactions of hatred or love! Kiyotaka managed to squeeze past Fujisaki, who was giving his gift to Asahina, and walk towards Oogami. She looked down at him, face stony, and Kiyotaka gulped.

 

Slowly, he unraveled the scroll.

 

“I… I wanted to make you some wall art! And, er… there are sakura flowers around the border… which I realise is a bit silly, considering your name, but-” All of a sudden the scroll was practically ripped from Kiyotaka’s trembling hands. Oogami stared at it… and then her face melted into a soft smile.

 

“It’s wonderful, Ishimaru-kun. I’ll hang it up immediately after the party finishes. You did a commendable job.”

 

Kiyotaka beamed from ear-to-ear at the praise, puffing his chest up with pride. She’d  _ liked  _ it! And for the first time in his life, Kiyotaka had seen her smile. He’d made her smile! Maybe this socialising-with-people-other-than-Mondo thing was a good idea- wait! Mondo! Kiyotaka still needed to find him! 

 

A quick scan of the room showed Mondo noticeably absent, and Kirigiri looked as peeved as Kiyotaka felt. Why had Mondo gone through so much effort organising the gift exchange, and then not shown up to the actual event? Kiyotaka couldn’t help but feel worried. Extremely worried.

 

“U-um, I’m happy you like it, but I have to go. Sorry.” Kiyotaka pushed past Sakura, making his way through the crowd and heading out the door. As soon as he reached the hallway, he did something he’d  _ never  _ done before- and ran.

 

Panting, out of breath, Kiyotaka stood before Mondo’s dorm and pressed his finger rapidly into the doorbell. After a few rings, the door creaked open, and Kiyotaka gazed up into Mondo’s eyes. For some reason, he looked like he’d been… crying? Kiyotaka didn’t waste another second before walking into the room, shutting the door closed behind him.

 

Mondo was a mess. His hair was down, and he looked like he hadn’t slept (or showered) in three days. His eyes were puffy and red from crying, and he was only wearing one of his ratty tank tops. Kiyotaka’s eyebrows knitted together in concern, and he grabbed Mondo’s hand, rubbing his thumb comfortingly across the back of his hand.

 

“What… what’s wrong, kyoudai?” he asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion, and Mondo sighed.

 

“It’s fuckin’- it’s nothin’. I’m just being an idiot. You should- it’s nothin’ to worry about.”

 

“Nonsense! If something’s making you upset, it’s my duty to worry about you! As your kyoudai, your emotional state matters more to me than my own!” Kiyotaka’s grip on Mondo’s hand tightened, staring up at him with a fiery gaze. “So please, tell me what’s wrong! I promise I won’t find it stupid!” 

 

Mondo sighed, running his free hand through his mess of hair, and averted his eyes away form Kiyotaka. “It’s just… I just remembered how me and Daiya used ta do this gift exchange with the gang. How it was a special thing he started, how the gifts he always gave me we so perfect, and I… I couldn’t make a perfect gift. Not then, not now. How the fuck am I meant to live up to his name if I can’t even do that right?!”

 

Kiyotaka frowned. “I’m sure your gift is wonderful! Look, if you show it to me, I’d be happy to give it a second opinion before you gave it to your giftee! But I think if you’ve put this much effort into making it… it’s going to be good regardless of quality!”

 

This time, Mondo groaned. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead, he just turned around and picked something off of his desk, tossing it at Kiyotaka. “There. I told ya it’s a piece a shit, so you don’t have ta lie about it.”

 

The object Mondo had thrown into Kiyotaka’s hands was… beautiful. It was a carving of the both of them, arms around each other and wide smiles on their faces. A bookend. The word “kyoudai”, along with their names, had been engraved into each side of the carving. Kiyotaka felt tears welling up in his eyes, as he stared wide-eyed at it. It was the most perfect gift he had  _ ever  _ received.

 

“...Mondo, this is. This is  _ beautiful _ .” Kiyotaka’s voice sounded far away, filled with awe. He cradled the carving close to his chest, looking up at Mondo and beaming. “Thank you. I… I love it!”

 

“No, ya don’t! Don’t say shit ta make me feel better!” But despite his protests, Kiyotaka could see a faint blush rising in Mondo’s cheeks. His heart skipped a beat.

 

“I’m not just saying it to make you feel better! This is genuinely amazing- you knew I wanted a new bookend, and this is just perfect! You’ve put so much care into carving it, and the details are  _ incredible!  _ Mondo, I love this almost as much as I love  _ you! _ ”

 

…

 

_ WAIT, WHAT HAD HE JUST SAID?! _

 

Kiyotaka instantly turned bright red, jumping away from Mondo. “I-I mean-” he tried to backtrack, quivering slightly, “I-I didn’t, um- mmph!” Kiyotaka never got to finish his protest, as he found himself being abruptly kissed.

 

...Oh, this was nice. He could get used to this.

 

His eyes fluttered close, and he clumsily tried to kiss Mondo back, lips sliding against the biker’s erratically. Mondo pulled away after another few seconds, resting his forehead against Kiyotaka’s. Kiyotaka was surprised to see that Mondo looked to be exactly as embarrassed as  _ he  _ was.

 

“...I love ya too, Kiyotaka.”

 

And somehow, those words were the best gift of all.


End file.
